One thing her failed run for governor did for Meg Whitman: "It's made me a better CEO," she says. Now, "nothing bothers me."

And there's plenty to be bothered about at Hewlett-Packard, the company she now leads. Like a 44 percent earnings decline since she took the helm in September. Sales and revenues down across the board. The mess left by her two predecessors.

As Whitman told a breakfast gathering of Silicon Valley executives hosted by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, HP is going to require "a steady hand on the tiller."

Whitman spoke the day after HP reported its first-quarter results, ending Jan. 31. While earnings beat the company's own estimates, there was little else to cheer about. Worldwide revenue down an average of 8 percent; PC sales down 15 percent; enterprise, storage and network down 10 percent; the old faithful standby, printers, down 7 percent.

Fixing it is going to take a lot of work, and a lot of time, Whitman acknowledged. "I told analysts, this year is the time to fix the balance sheets, and optimize what we have today," she said.

That means no acquisitions for the foreseeable future - "I don't see it on the horizon" - nor a mad dash into the cloud. Rather, more emphasis on R&D, so long as it "knits" with HP's business units, improvements to the supply chain within a company that operates in 160 countries ("it's not where it ought to be"), management organization - Whitman referred to the current HP as a collection of "silos" - and a laser-like focus on HP's "core strengths," notably enterprise servers, storage and networks, which constitute the biggest slice of HP's $129 billion business.

One new - or retooled - product she promises to launch by Christmas is a tablet. Not the strangled-in-the-crib TouchPad - "that was not a happy ending," she said - but one powered by Windows 8 software, with productivity and security tools designed for the enterprise market.

"I have an iPad, which I use to read books and watch movies - not for real work," said Whitman. "Steve Jobs is the business genius of our generation, and Apple is a remarkable company," she said. "But we have to focus on what we do best. With the tablet, we have to focus on where we have a competitive advantage."

A steady hand is going to require more time spent at the tiller than some of her predecessors, five of whom have come and gone within the past seven years.

Asked if she might be tempted to re-enter the political ring at some point, Whitman replied, "I doubt it." Even if a President-elect Romney, whom she worked for at Bain & Co. and has supported, advised and fundraised for ever since, came calling in November? "Absolutely out of the question," she said.

"Politics is one tough game. Based on my experience, it's harder than it looks."

Harder than getting HP to once more find its way? "I love HP. Running HP feels like I'm back in my swimming lane."

Score one for transparency: Three Bay Area companies are among the first to sign on with a New York state pension fund's campaign to get corporations to disclose details of their political spending.

PG&E, Safeway and Sempra Energy agreed to the disclosures earlier this month in letters to the New York state controller's office.

Under the agreements, the companies will publish annual disclosure reports that will include the amount and to whom corporate political expenditures are made.

PG&E is going one step further, agreeing to disclose its lobbying and advocacy policies and procedures.

Last year, the New York State Common Retirement Fund filed shareholder resolutions calling for disclosure with eight public companies, three of whom - Marriott International, Yum Brands and Limited Brands - have already agreed to comply.

The New York state controller, meanwhile, has sent letters to 430 S&P 500 companies calling for similar disclosures.

Bring on the lawyers: As expected, the Gold Dust Lounge dustup has entered the litigation sphere.

Burlingame's Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court on Thursday seeking to prevent the scheduled March 10 eviction of the Gold Dust Lounge from its Powell Street location.

The suit charges that the Gold Dust's proprietors since 1966, James and Tasio Bovis, "unknowingly" signed a clause in their lease allowing the owner, Handlery Hotels, to evict the Gold Dust with 90 days' notice.

The suit claims that the owner misrepresented to the Bovises that successively renewed leases contained "no material change" although the clauses pertaining to notice and eviction had been modified significantly.

Given their age - the Bovises are in their early 80s - the misrepresentations also amount to elderly abuse, the lawsuit charges.

Attorneys for the Handlery Hotel could not be reached for comment Thursday. Sam Singer, a spokesman for the owners, said the allegations made in the suit are "completely false."

It is not clear if the suit will be heard before the March 1o eviction date.